COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Blood in the Streets

Democrats Against the Taxpayers:





115 comments:

  1. Let's get this straight. Massachusetts Democrat pols in the streets of Wisconsin are not standing with workers against big bad corporations. They are protesting about the threat to the alliance of the Democrats and government worker unions.

    These Democrats are not looking out for the taxpayers and real estate owners that are providing their hard earned money to these public unions.

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  2. Taking it to the Streets!

    Will US troops fire upon unarmed US citizens, again?

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  3. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)
    - Saudi Arabia's rulers answered the Arab world's winter of rage with money: throwing $36 billion into housing and other social assistance channels in attempts to quell rumblings of dissent.


    Down with the despots!

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  4. Hartford - If Wednesday's rally on the steps of the state Capitol demonstrated nothing else, it showed that state workers still have faith that they can sit down with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and come to an amicable agreement.

    Malloy is asking them to make $2 billion in concessions over the next two years to help balance the state budget.

    But at the rally, where state employees gathered to show their support for state workers in Wisconsin, some 500 raucous members of state employee labor unions greeted the governor with cheers and chanted, "We are one!"


    Unions, Malloy keeping the faith

    By Kenton Robinson

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  5. Washington Post -

    CAIRO - Egyptian authorities on Wednesday banned a former prime minister and a former cabinet minister from leaving the country, a move that often precedes a criminal investigation and a possible trial, state television reported.


    Justice is coming to the public face of corruption, in Egypt.

    Sweet.

    While the US dominated military maintains control of the country.

    Toots sweet.

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  6. Xinhua - ‎

    BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- More than 4600 Chinese nationals had been evacuated from Libya by Thursday morning, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

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  7. "Toots sweet."

    Thank you, Dennis Miller.

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  8. Latin America Left Leaders Back Qadhafi’s Murderous Regime http://is.gd/ysllJz

    Surprise!

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  9. What does Selah mean?

    I've come across it in the Bible.

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  10. Enjoying the $3.30/gallon gas. It's all part of Obama's & MoveOn's strategy for $10/gallon gas. But that's okay, I can afford it, it's the working slobs who vote Dem can't. Me, I have a govt subsidized van pool to get to work.

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  12. Trish, Selah appears in the Psalms, and is a word like you see in modern sheet music telling you how to play a piece. In this case, Selah means "pause and reflect".

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  13. "I didn't ask to be in the this position."

    "None of us did."

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  14. "Selah means 'pause and reflect'."

    Whaddya know.

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  15. The masculine draws us ever onward.

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  16. Well. It was an incredible morning.

    The cup does sometimes run over.

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  17. You do sound very relaxed. It must have been fun.

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  18. Jesus, Blue.

    I can't tell a good day from a bad day.

    But here I am.

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  19. Was it fun?

    I have a feeling my spring is going to suck in its own special way.

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  20. red, If you are having a day, it is good.

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  21. Yeah :)

    It's the "alternative" that truly sucks.

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  22. Bob says the alternative is a tunnel a light.

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  23. Or as they said in 2/37 Armor: I See The Train And It Doesn't Matter.

    But of course it always does.

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  24. $100 a barrel when Bush was President? His big oil buddies were taking advantage.

    $100 a barrel when Obama is President? **Crickets**

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  25. A group of armed men from the Religion of Peace stormed the home of a Christian man in Baghdad’s central neighbourhood of Karrad, killing him. The victim’s name is Youssif Isho, a 70-year-old Chaldean. He was stabbed to death.

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  27. "I didn't ask to be in the this position."

    "None of us did."

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  28. Hey Quirk,

    What, specifically, were you suggesting that Public Service Unions should have limits on as opposed to other unions? I can see limiting essential workers right to strike but I'm not sure what makes public service unions different from other unions other than they work for the public.

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  29. There's something about sitting at the end of a runway...

    That sound, and the fact that a vehicle of man's making can do nothing else when it lifts up, but lift up. And fly.

    It can do nothing else but the thing that seems to us most improbable.

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  30. Oil Settles Near $97 on Rumors Gaddafi Shot - CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/41747049

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  31. Private sector unions negotiate with their adversaries in business, Ash.

    Public sector unions "negotiate" (collude) with politicians, promising their re-election.

    The politicians reciprocate by giving them other people's money.
    (ours)

    The Examples are everywhere,from the Democrat/Teachers Union Alliance, to the Los Angeles City Council reaping higher salaries than Congress and POTUS.

    ...and all the public unions have to do is get 12% of the electorate out to vote for their crooks in office.

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  32. Teacher's Union Bigshot:
    It's Not About The Children


    In 2009, after 41 years as the nations top education lawyer for the National Education Association, Bob Chanin gave his farewell address in which he said

    it’s not about kids, but about power.

    “Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.”

    “And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year, because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.”

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  33. "What, specifically, were you suggesting that Public Service Unions should have limits on as opposed to other unions? I can see limiting essential workers right to strike but I'm not sure what makes public service unions different from other unions other than they work for the public."

    Government unions, if they are to have collective bargaining, would have to bargain with taxpayers, not to the thuds that receive their payoff in votes!

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  34. In addition to voter turnout machines, public unions serve as legal money laundering machines.

    The "Stimulus" being the best example yet.

    Obama gives billions to the states, which bequeath it on the unions, which contribute our tax dollars to re-elect Obama.

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  35. They're calling the Dems who run away rather than vote "Fleebaggers"

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  36. Thuds indeed!

    Like the old F-84 or was it the 105?

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  37. Rest assured, the thuds and the unions do it all for our children.

    sweet

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  38. They're calling the Dems who run away rather than vote "Fleebaggers"

    Thu Feb 24, 05:25:00 PM EST

    I dunno, it's kinda cheezy. A woman who blogs the bible just ought, you know, not think quite like that. I mean, the brain ought to work in a slightly different way.

    A little odd. Now what I mean?

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  39. It was the 105:

    "Thud", nicknames included the "Squat Bomber",
    "Lead Sled", and the
    "Hyper Hog" and/or
    "Ultra Hog".

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  40. Majid, a businessman, described the scene near his home in the rich neighbourhood of Zawiyat al-Dahmani. ''There are barricades everywhere,'' he said.

    ...

    Residents said the government was sending out text messages warning people to stay at home. But the fall of other cities to rebels, including Misurata, 210 kilometres east of Tripoli, put more pressure on Colonel Gaddafi and emboldened his opponents.

    "A message comes to every mobile phone about a general protest on Friday in Tripoli," one resident of the capital said. Colonel Gaddafi's menacing speech on Tuesday - when he vowed to hunt down opponents "house by house" - increased their determination "100 per cent", the resident said.


    Tripoli Showdown

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  41. What's the point in being half-whitted?

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  42. GRAVE fears are held for two Australians missing in Libya, including a businessman who was apparently seized by security forces from his hotel and has not been heard of since.

    Security Forces

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  43. Ah, I get it, so the Selah question was just bait. Check.

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  44. "GRAVE fears..."

    Mmmmmm.

    I think I've been informed about that.

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  45. How much snow you got on the ground there back home, T?

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  46. No. It wasn't just bait.





    I know my dad thinks it funny that the Bar, Bait and Tackle is all in the family.

    It makes me wonder what a family is.

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  47. sam said... How much snow you got on the ground there back home, T?

    Exactly this much, as of two hours ago.

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  48. Nice. Looks like a couple inches. Thanks for the shot.

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  49. But that's okay. I have been informed by C. S. Lewis that we are merely awaiting our ideal selves in Heaven.

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  50. I'm sorry, T.

    I don't like you - and furthermore don't know you - but I've had many beers and am going soon to bed.

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  51. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Air Force announced Thursday it awarded a $3.5 billion initial contract to Boeing for the production of 18 next-generation aerial refueling tankers.

    That is a down payment on a contract worth about $35 billion for 179 planes.

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  52. Why is it that we would improve by dying?

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  53. doug wrote:

    Public sector unions "negotiate" (collude) with politicians, promising their re-election.

    The politicians reciprocate by giving them other people's money.
    (ours)

    and Deuce concurred:

    "Government unions, if they are to have collective bargaining, would have to bargain with taxpayers, not to the thuds that receive their payoff in votes!"





    ummmm, well, gentlemen, the same can be said about business/corporations, only more so.

    I'd suggest then that the problem is not really Unions or Business/Corporations but rather the US government and the role money plays in elections.

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  55. Ash, corporations negotiate about their money. Politicians are not negotiating with their money; they negotiate with taxpayers money.

    Corporations cannot force people to buy their products. Government can extort what they want from the public and transfer it to the unions that vote them in. It is a mutually prasitic relationship.

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  56. The devil guided my hand, probably a result of my ironic name.

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  57. I see how the relationship exists with the public service unions but I think you are naive if you think that a similar relationship does not exist between corporations and the politicians. The government may not be able to force individuals to buy a corporations products but a.) the government sure can buy those products (airplanes trains ect.0 and b.) they frame the rules and regulations which have huge consequences for corporations. Take a look a the lobbyists crawling all over the capital to witness but one sign of the importance of the relationship.

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  58. Whatever verbosity bug hit Bobal has now infected Trish.

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  59. I suppose.

    Can't live with me.

    Can't live without me.

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  60. I only know that because I listen to your goddamn songs.

    When I am inclined.

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  61. AND I AM SURE THAT THIS ALL HAS A POINT.






    I AM.

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  62. God I'm glad I'm the bartender here (in my house that is) and not the imbiber.

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  63. .

    Hey Quirk,

    What, specifically, were you suggesting that Public Service Unions should have limits on as opposed to other unions?


    First, let me clarify my position. The basic question is should there be public service unions. My position is no, there shouldn't be. You seemed to indicate that there is no difference between public service and private sector unions. In that, I think you are wrong.

    Public sector unions have been around for a relatively short time yet they have grown at an astounding rate over the last twenty years. In fact, they have grown while private sector unions have faced dramatic declines.

    One has to ask why. In my opinion, as has been mentioned here, it's because of two reasons. First, because the easiest thing for politicians to do is spend other people's (taxpayers) money. What's the point in getting into work stoppages, etc. when it's much easier to throw taxpayer dollars at them? There is no real ‘competitive’ negotiating involved.

    Second, also as has been mentioned by others here it creates a voting block for the Dems. Although it equates to a lot more than 'walking around money' it amounts to the same thing in principle. An unholy circle is created between the politicians and the unions.

    I say there shouldn't be public service unions for the following reasons:

    One, its elected government's main responsibility to maintain critical services; police, fire, even educating the kids, etc. They can’t do that with cops and firemen out on strike. Reagan proved the point with the air traffic controllers.

    Two, you already have civil service laws and the civil service administration that looks out for most civil servants in terms of safety issues, work rules, wages.

    Three, while you can argue that it is only fair that public servants be allowed the same bargaining rights as private unions, in reality that is not the way it works out. Public service unions have only been around to any extent for the past thirty years or so. I've already noted that they have been growing while private unions have been declining.

    The public service unions argue that attacking them is attacking the middle class. In fact, over the past thirty years, median incomes have been flat. The only middle class jobs that have been getting improvements in wages and benefits are those of the public service unions. Doesn’t seem fair to me, that the public services unions should be reaping the benefits on the backs of other middle class workers who are losing benefits or their jobs yet are expected to pay for expanded benefits for the public service workers.

    As I said, I would prefer there be no public sector unions. If there are public sector unions, I say at a minimum they not be allowed to strike.

    .

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  64. .

    Public service unions are a problem in my opinion, Ash; but I agree with you with regard politicians and big business.

    Walker may be doing the right thing (in my opinion); but he is also doing them for all the wrong reasons (again in my opinion). He appears to be in the pocket of the Koch's and it won't be long before they will be knocking on his door to collect.

    .

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  65. "...and not the imbiber."

    My recommendation is to put a period and a space before and after every comment.

    And I mean that.

    I think I'm committing a sin.

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  66. .

    The one good thing you can say abut the public service unions is that they at least put the money they extort back into the economy.

    Look at the billions that were handed out to the banks and other businesses. And we are still doing it. I said billions. Make it trillions. And what do we get for it. The banks are making recod profits. Execs get more in bonuses than the entire budget shortfall of the entire fifty states.

    We give them money at zero interest that they invest in other countries. Companies are sitting on record profits rather than hiring people.

    The Dems feed their toadies in the unions. The GOP feeds their masters in business.

    While I dislike the public service unions, the billions they extort are chump change compared to the stuff going on at the national level.

    .

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  67. "Look at the billions that were handed out to the banks and other businesses."

    Are you dispensing advise?

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  68. I think GM paid all of their debt back, didn't they?

    And some bank or finanical institution awhile ago paid some of theirs back. (?)

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  69. You should be able to guess within one year.

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  70. I arrived in America on a ship with my mother and several thousand other GI brides.

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  71. I monitored Soviet missile launches from Greece, England, Germany, Italy and Cyprus.

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  72. I did a short stint on Monkey Mountain.

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  73. I gazed at the Northern Lights from a BMEWS site in very remote Canada.

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  74. No, GM went Chapter 11.

    Somebody paid there's back 'though. Have to look it up.

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  75. I had dinner at a restaurant in Lowestoft next to a table where John Lennon was eating cockles and welks.

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  76. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  77. I took a troop train from Houston Texas to Biloxi Mississippi. When I got to New Orleans , the benches were set so that the colored people and the white people could look across the room at each other.

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  78. Were you around when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?

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  79. .

    I'm one of the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

    .

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  80. .

    I gave Dick Kulpa of the Weekly World News the idea for Bat Boy yet recieved no credit for it.

    .

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  81. Do you know where that Charge took place?

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  82. .

    I gave Reagan the line "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." afer a couple scotch and waters at his ranch.

    .

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  83. "Blood in the Streets"…maybe we should do a post on "Blood on the Sheets."

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  84. I have never been to Disneyland but I did stay at a Motel 8 once.

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  85. .

    No.

    I later found out it was on the Crimean coast in the Ukraine.

    They said meet us in Balaclava and I assumed it was somewhere in Greece; you know with the honeyed pastry and all.

    Some have suggested that's how I survived.

    Pricks.

    .

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  86. Balaclava, sweet enough to make your teeth hurt and close to being the pure calorie.

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  87. .

    "Blood in the Streets"…maybe we should do a post on "Blood on the Sheets."

    At least, I could contribute, although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to.

    .

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  88. .

    Yea, I later learned the pastry is spelled backlava but you could see how a young guy could get confused.

    .

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  89. It could be worse Q, you could have gone to a Greek Italian restaurant, placed your order, expecting a lovely sweet pastry and ended up with some salty cod, Baccalà.

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  90. PossumTater talking about $400 oil at BC.

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  91. Blogger Deuce said...

    I monitored Soviet missile launches from Greece, England, Germany, Italy and Cyprus




    I'm curious, do you have a pension associated with your service?



    One thing I find.... I dunno, interesting, is that many private business have been sunk by their pension promises (i.e. automotive industry)

    No Sam, I don't believe the auto companies have made it whole yet. In Canada they chose to give their workers bonuses instead of paying off the gov. loans.

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  92. Key towns in Libya's west have reportedly been the scene of fierce clashes as anti-government protesters close in on dictator Moamar Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital, Tripoli.

    ...

    The Libyan leader still sees no reason to step down.

    Overnight, Libyan television aired what it said was another speech by Mr Gaddafi made by telephone, where he blamed the unrest on young Libyans who have been brainwashed by drugs or Al Qaeda.

    ...

    This morning Prime Minister Julia Gillard said more consular officials were heading to Libya to help Australians get out of the country after problems getting visas for extra consular staff were resolved.

    She said 37 Australians are still registered to leave the country


    Final Stand

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  93. 66 seems pretty close to me, also.

    That was some pretty interesting duty for a young guy. You musta been a "precocious" chil'.

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  94. 10 yrs. "on," 10 yrs. "off" sounds about right to me.

    Let'em collective bargain for ten years, and then cut'em off for ten years (or until the next wave of Dems can get'em set up, again.)

    Deemocracee ain't easy.

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  95. There are at least 170 British citizens stuck in the desert.

    British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he is "extremely sorry" about the delay in rescuing British citizens from Libya.

    "What I would say to those people is that I am extremely sorry. It is a very difficult picture in Libya. That is not an easy situation," Mr Cameron said.


    Tripoli

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  96. Nah, wait, your mother is English. Your father could have been over there anytime after . . . .. well, anytime, really.

    Was he a code-breaker? Or, some other Intelligence branch? Signals, same as you, or radar?

    Let's go with 68.

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  97. I'll check back for the answer in the morning. Nite.

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  98. 65…I started everything early… my goal is to finish everything late.

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  99. No Ash…I am on no pension…I have never been unemployed…although I have been broke a couple of times...but keep that hypocrisy sniffer working.

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